1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical equipment management system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A system that carries out centralized management over the operational status of air conditioners disposed in a plurality of buildings from a remote site is known (see, e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2007-113913). This system optimizes the operational status of air conditioners in each building.
Generally, a commercial building is divided into a plurality of sections and each section is occupied by a tenant. Following amendment of the Act on the Rational Use of Energy, energy conservation, i.e., reduction of electrical energy consumption on a corporation basis has become mandatory. As a result, cases of applying the Act on the Rational Use of Energy to individual tenants in a building, which have conventionally been exempted from the Act on the Rational Use of Energy, are increasing. Applying the Act on the Rational Use of Energy to individual tenants makes it necessary for each tenant to reduce the amount of electrical energy consumed, which leads to a demand for management/control of the amount of electrical energy consumption in line with the circumstances of each tenant. In recent years, a rise in an energy conservation orientation has lead to a practice such that loading apparatuses, such as air conditioners and lightings, are controlled so that electrical energy consumption is kept within a range, for example, a preset monthly target of electrical energy consumption.
However, air conditioners had conventionally been managed by each building, where tenants could not set individual targets or individually collect data on electrical energy consumption.
The present invention has been conceived in view of the above circumstances, and it is therefore an object of the present invention to manage electrical energy consumed at each section so that the amount of electrical energy consumed does not exceed its upper limit.